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By JOAHNA LEI CASILAO and MA. ANGELICA GARCIA
December 30, 2021
The Philippines entered 2021 with a hint of hope in its campaign against COVID-19.
The country had managed to bring down its average number of new cases a day toward the end of 2020 with community quarantines and the mandatory use of face masks and face shields. The average daily number of new cases steadily declined from its peak in August with 4,097, to just 1,378 in December.
The rosy outlook for 2021 further improved when Health Secretary Francisco Duque announced on January 10 that the Philippines had signed a deal with China’s Sinovac for 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. He said the first batch of vaccines would arrive in February.
But the world entered 2021 with the threat of a new form of the virus first detected in the United Kingdom in September. It turned out to be the first of several variants, which will be eventually named after letters of the Greek alphabet.
On January 13, Philippine health authorities announced that the B.1.1.7, the Alpha variant first detected in the UK, was already in the country. It was detected in a swab sample taken from a Quezon City resident with travel history from the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, in late January, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez said the government was having a hard time buying vaccines from their manufacturers. He said wealthy nations have already secured most of the supply—some 80% of the doses made at that time.
The declining average number of new cases a day rose to 1,676 in January 2021. It further rose to 1,817 in February and spiked to 5,525 in March.
The race in the Philippines had begun between the variants of COVID-19 and the vaccines meant to stop the virus.
The vaccines, however, came late to the starting block.
University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi was the Philippines' first official recipient of a vaccine against COVID-19.
The government finally rolled out its vaccination program on March 1, leading off with the inoculation of healthcare workers after its first ever batch of vaccines from China arrived on February 28. The Philippines was the last country in the ASEAN region to start its vaccination program.
Just as the jabs got off the ground, the B.1.351 variant or the Beta variant was detected in the country. Evidence suggested that the variant bound more readily and strongly to human cells, making it more infectious.
At the time, only the Alpha and Beta variants were the only variants of concern detected in the country. However, a recent report by the Department of Health (DOH) showed that the highly contagious Delta variant had been in the country as early as March 31, earlier than its initial detection in May.
March saw the daily COVID-19 cases begin to increase anew, ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 per day. Hospitals started to feel the effects of the surge, too.
Due to the spike in cases, the government placed Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal – designated as the “National Capital Region Plus” under a stricter community quarantine bubble that ran from March 22 to April 4.
NCR Plus was later placed under the strict enhanced community quarantine from March 29 to April 4 in the hopes of curbing the spread of the virus.
To maximize the speed of the vaccination rollout, the government allowed the implementation of simultaneous vaccination of priority group A1 (health workers), A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (persons with comorbidities) on March 29.
It was also on this day that the Philippine government received its first batch of government-procured vaccines, a total of one million doses of Sinovac.
Due to the spike in cases, the government placed Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal – designated as the “National Capital Region Plus” under stricter quarantine beginning in March.
By March 30, a total of 737,569 individuals in the Philippines had received at least one dose against COVID-19, while only 1,344 have been fully vaccinated. The seven-day average at this time was 32,940 jabs.
In the middle of April, the Philippines detected the P.1 or the Gamma variant, a variant that was found to be more infectious than the original coronavirus and was able to reinfect individuals who had previously tested positive.
New cases a day surged to over 10,000 from April 2 to April 15 before declining to around 6,000 to 8,000 from April 16 to April 30.
By April 20, 1.3 million individuals had received one dose while 209,456 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Philippines first detected the highly contagious Delta variant on May 11, 2021.
By the end of May, the Philippines had administered 3.9 million first doses and had fully vaccinated 1.2 million individuals.
The number of COVID-19 cases reported daily from May to June ranged from 4,000 to 6,000.
By June 27, more than 7.5 million individuals had received at least one dose while 2.5 million had been fully vaccinated against the illness, putting the country at 10 million total doses administered.
The Philippines reported its first 11 local cases of the Delta variant on July 16.
On July 16, the Philippines reported its first 11 local cases of the Delta variant, two of which were in Metro Manila, six in Region X, one had an address in Region III, and two in Region VI.
On July 28, the Philippines also reported the first local transmission of the Alpha and Beta variants in the Bicol Region.
COVID-19 cases then spiked to 10,000 a day in the beginning of August from the 5,000 to 6,000 daily infections from June to July.
Meanwhile, the Philippines vaccinated 11.1 million individuals with their first dose and 6 million individuals with their second dose by July 25, with average daily doses administered reaching 300,880.
On August 31, the World Health Organization confirmed that Delta had become the most dominant variant in the country and that the Philippines had community transmission of the variant, which meant clustered cases and having infected persons who had no known links to one another.
Daily cases in the country jumped to 20,000 to 22,000 per day in September.
By September 30, a total of 24,242,420 Filipinos have received at least one dose while 21,358,676 have received two doses, accounting 22.7% of the 77 million target population. The daily vaccination capacity at this time was at 353,774 jabs.
By October 15, the government started the vaccination of adolescents aged 12 to 17 with comorbidities.
The Philippines reported its first two cases of the Omicron variant in December.
Cases started to go down by mid-October, slowly decreasing to around 1,000 by the end of November. This further decreased to less than 1,000 per day from the end of November to December.
By this point, NCR had vaccinated 100% of its target population.
The country reported its lowest daily number of COVID-19 cases in almost 19 months on December 14 with only 235 infections.
But just when Filipinos thought Christmas this year will get better due to the decreasing cases and easened restrictions, there came Omicron.
The country reported its lowest daily number of daily COVID-19 cases in almost 19 months on December 14 with only 235 infections.
On December 15, the Philippines detected the Omicron coronavirus variant from two international travelers.
The DOH said one of the travelers was a 48-year-old male returning overseas Filipino who arrived from Japan on December 1 via Philippine Airlines flight number PR 0427, while the other case was a 37-year-old male Nigerian national who arrived from Nigeria on November 30 via Oman Air with flight number WY 843.
According to the World Health Organization, current evidence showed that Omicron has a growth advantage over the Delta variant. Since the new, heavily-mutated variant was first detected in southern Africa in November, it has been reported in 77 countries.
Compared to Delta, Omicron multiplies itself 70 times more quickly in tissues that line airway passages, which may facilitate person-to-person spread, researchers said. But in lung tissues, Omicron replicates 10 times more slowly than the original version of the coronavirus, which might contribute to less-severe illness.
The Philippines on December 15 announced that it has detected the Omicron variant from two international travelers. According to the DOH, one is a 48-year-old male returning overseas Filipino who arrived from Japan on December 1 via Philippine Airlines flight number PR 0427. The other case, meanwhile, is a 37-year-old male Nigerian national who arrived from Nigeria on November 30 via Oman Air with flight number WY 843.
Despite the detection of Omicron in the country, the DOH said it saw no reason to raise the alert level system.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency was following certain metrics in lowering or raising the alert level system in an area.
“We will continue to monitor so that at the first sign of an increase in cases, our response will not be delayed,” Vergeire said.
At present, all areas in the Philippines are under Alert Level 2.
The DOH has since announced the detection of two more Omicron cases.
The husband of the last Omicron case detected has tested positive for COVID-19 but his swab sample has yet to be subjected to genome sequencing.
A health worker prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine for protection against the coronavirus disease at a cinema turned into a temporary vaccination site in San Juan. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
And while it is still uncertain how serious the consequences will be, there is still much yet to know about Omicron and its severity.
With this, experts said vaccines will still provide protection against worst outcomes.
At least 43 million Filipinos have already been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Fifty-six million have received at least the first dose of the vaccine and another one million Filipinos received their booster shot so far.
The 43 million Filipinos account for 55.78% of the target population.
The government earlier said it aims to fully vaccinate 54 million Filipinos against the virus by year end.
And with the looming threat of Omicron, the government admitted there is still a lot to be done concerning COVID-19 vaccination.
“We must not lull ourselves into complacency. We will continue to ramp up our vaccination efforts and call on those unvaccinated to get their jabs as soon as possible to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their community,” acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.
He, however, added that despite being fully vaccinated, health protocols should still be strictly observed.
According to Duque, the solution to the pandemic is to get vaccinated and to follow the minimum public health standards (MPHS) such as the wearing of face masks, hand washing, and physical distancing measures.
“So dalawa, ang solusyon, dalawa. Vaccination and MPHS. Hindi pwedeng bakuna lang,” Duque said.
The Health Secretary said Filipino’s strict compliance with health protocols helped the country in managing its COVID-19 cases in 2021.
“This comes from the fact that last year, when we had our surge in July, August. We did not have a single drop of vaccine to speak of,” Duque said during the visit of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 to a vaccination site in Zambales.
“And yet because of the people’s discipline compliance to minimum public health standard, we were able to bring the cases down and for four-five months we kept it flat, nag plateau siya, at a very low stability po,” he added.
The Omicron variant is the latest threat of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world.
Despite the gains in vaccination, uncertainty over COVID-19 remains high in the Philippines as the year ends and the Omicron threat looms. What does this mean for 2022?
Dr. Ma. Encarnita Limpin, president of the Philippine College of Physicians, cases of COVID-19 might increase in January due to the presence of Omicron. She added the decline in the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines over time might be a problem for the country next year.
The country must accelerate the rollout of primary doses and booster shots, Limpin said.
“It’s like a seesaw battle. May up and down tayo... We cannot afford to have this seesaw battle na medyo maganda tayo ngayon so tayo ay nagce-celebrate dahil sa mababa ang kaso natin tapos at the same time, nagmamadali tayong mabakunahan ang mga tao,” Limpin said.
“Mabagal kasi talaga ang vaccination rate natin... Now ang ating target pa lang ay primary vaccination to achieve herd immunity but then ‘pag hindi natin nasundan yan with the booster shots na kakailanganin ng mga tao then ‘yong herd immunity na ‘yan, mawawala ‘yan,” she added.
Limpin said fully vaccinated individuals who are unable receive booster shots in time would have decreased antibodies.
“Therefore, the chance na magkaroon sila ng COVID-19 ay mataas,” Limpin said.
She also emphasized the importance of following minimum health standards. With the looming surge, the health sector was all hands on deck in preparations.
“‘Yong mga nakikita naming bagong gamot na nakikita naming medyo maganda ang ebidensya to fight against the virus para mapigilan naitin ‘yong viral replication, we’re trying to get approval for compassionate use kasi gusto namin ‘pag dumating dito si surge, handa ang healthcare sector to really give whatever we have to give para sa mga pasyenteng darating sa ospital,” Limpin said.
For now, Limpin said she still did not see the end of the pandemic.
“We will be able to achieve that (endemic) once makita natin nabakunahan na karamihan ng mga tao and when I say nabakunahan na, na-receive na ng bawat isa ‘yong primary vaccination pati booster shots,” Limpin said.
“Hindi ko lang alam kailan natin ma-a-achieve ‘yong ganoong klaseng level ng immunity,” she added.
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